The Home and Garden Show...

We went to the Home and Garden show one weekend! My mom was working with the Master Gardener's booth! So we Mikayla planted flowers with her!

 Planting the seedlings!

 On a scavenger hunt around the show! Mikayla put the pencil behind her ear-it was so cute!

 Playing on the tire swings and the play equipment was Mikayla's favorite part!

 In the end before we left, Mikayla picked out a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me! They were gorgeous and only $5!

Winter fun...

I guess we aren't very good at taking pictures in the winter time, because we don't do very much outside...but here are a few of our winter adventures!

 Playiing in the snow! Our little snow angel!

 Mikayla has really wanted a pet...we wanted something that was easy to take care of and didn't have fur. Mikayla picked 3 goldfishes-Goldie, Nick and Sam!

 Sledding at our friends Mike and Carmen's house! It was the most perfect day, sunny and on the warmer side. The girls had a great time sledding!

 James and Mikayla going down the hill!

 Mikayla trying out snowboarding!

 Carmen, Emma, Ellie and Mikayla on the big sled going down the hill together!

 Mikayla and I made a snowman together! Then we built a snowtunnel!

Climbing through the snowtunnel!

 Celebrating Brayden's 2nd Birthday!

Very cute Thomas the Train cake!



Celebrating Aida's 61st birthday...

So on January 14th, we headed home to Rockford to celebrate Aida's 61st birthday with the WHOLE family! It had been a long time since we had all been home and the first time we had all been together since Zayden was born. The little kids had a great time together! We all had a wonderful time spending time together for the weekend.

The kids playing moon dough together (above)

Then the kids LOVED playing hockey together too! Mikayla is being the goalie below! (below) 

 Nathaniel, Lola (Grandma), Zechariah and Mikayla at the Ice Hogs game

 Picking up chuck-o-pucks-ice skating on the ice to pick up the pucks!

 Angelica and Zayden!

 The Cousins-at Imperial Palace for the Surprise party!

 The whole Dykstra Family!

Aida was extremely surprised to see all of us at the resturant! We had a great time and it was fun to spend time together! Hoping we can get everyone together soon!

A few more memories of days in Florida...

While I am so glad it is now Spring, the weather isn't quite cooperating to make it feel like Spring much! So I have decided to relive the last few days we were in Florida, to add a little warmth to our life!

Our last day at Disney we spent at Animal Kingdom. The first stop was the Safari, which was probably one of my favorite things we did, the animals were so close and this giraffe walked right up to our jeep. VERY COOL!

   

Mikayla experienced her first "big" ride. She went on the Kalihari Rapids. She was a little unsure about it, but in the end, SHE LOVED IT! Even though we were soaking wet!

After the ride...soaking wet!

 At the tree of life! Daddy and Mikayla and Mikayla and Mom!

 The end of our day at Magic Kingdom wouldn't be complete without Mickey Ears ice cream and a souvenir!

 Mickey ear wizard hat!

 After our time in Orlando we headed to West Palm Beach to have Christmas! We spent time with the Reid's (Susan (my borther Kyle's girlfriend) parents). We had a great time spending time at the beach, feeding the fish and celebrating Christmas together as a family!

 Beach time!

 Walkind down to the pier to feed the fish. Uncle Kyle bought some shrimp for Mikayla to feed the fish, since the sea gulls were eating the bread she brought down to feed them!

 Flying a kite on the beach on Christmas day!

Our life....

Wow...so I guess being a regular blogger isn't really my thing! Maybe when I am done with my thesis and have my masters I will be better about it! I have friends with multiple kids that are great at posting and keeping us updated and here I am with one kid and I can not keep it up! The funny thing is I went back to go through some pictures and I don't have much from February and March! I guess we have been busy, but we haven't been doing do things that are picture worthy! Here is what we have been up to:
James-Working hard at his classes-he just entered is third quarter. He is going to ITT and studying CNS (Computer Networking Systems). This is right up his alley because he loves everything about comptures, he can build them, fix them and trouble shoot them. He is enjoying school and has learned a lot. He has also started a internship through the Grand Rapids Fire Department working on computers data entry and organzing data. So between school and the internship he is VERY busy!He is enjoying it and learning a lot!
Mikayla-She loves school and is getting so excited to go to Kindergarten next year! She is going to turn 5 next week, which is so hard for us to believe. I get a little choked up thinking about all that we have been through the last 5 years and how blessed we are with how far she has come. She is still involved in gymnastics and is loving it. We are thinking about signing up for soccer, just to try something new. She is starting to read familiar words and she is starting to write words by sounding them out. She loves to sing and she has an amazing memory for everything!
Me (Julie)- I am still teaching 1st grade. I have had a very challenging class this year, but have learned a lot and feel that I have truly grown as a teacher. I love my profession and am so blessed to be doing something I love. My one wish is that education could not take some many hits from all directions. Praying that our economy turns around and our government will do what is right for kids! I am working on finshing my thesis and looking forward to having my masters. It has been a long time coming, but proud that I am going to accomplish it!
Since I start spring break tomorrow...my plan is to go through my pictures and get caught up on blogging our lives and will be posting lots of pictures! So thanks for following our lives and check back soon for updates!
Coming up...
Disney continued
Aida's (mother in law) surprise party!
Home and Garden Show!
Snow fun!
Mikayla's birthday at school!
Our trip to the Dells...